Wounds That Can't Be Seen
by Black Chasm of Despair
Summary: Grace is 16 years old and a pregnant rape victim, see how she deals with life. See how her family and friends at Degrassi help her while dealing with their own troubles. My first fan fic, please R&R!
1. So It Begins

Disclaimer: If I owned Degrassi then I wouldn't be posting this on fan fiction would I? Degrassi would also have a lot more anti-social people in it. Anyways this is my first fan fic so please R&R. Enjoy!

Warning: This chapter contains some quite disgusting facts, they may disturb even teenagers. This story is not meant for the eyes of children who can't accept that rape is not an easy thing and don't realise that it leaves a mark. This is dedicated to all poor teen girls who have suffered from sexual assault, may you recover from your suffering, people do care for you!

Chapter 1: Only the Beginning

As she stumbled onto the grounds of Degrassi Community School, Grace hurt all over, not just physically. Her hair was loose, falling just below her shoulders, normally it would have annoyed her to have it flapping around and covering her face but at the moment all she could think of was finding someone who she knew and could trust.

Oh God how it hurts! She thought as fresh tears began to stream down her face.

Remembering that some of her friends had sport at the moment and would most likely be in the gym. That was where she headed, each step feeling worse than the last until finally she made it to the gym. The small girl managed to heave the heavy doors open and fit her thin body through the gap that she'd made, trying her best not to allow anything to touch her back, knowing the world of pain that would cause.

No one noticed her entering the gym but when the door slammed itself shut behind her almost everyone in the class turned to look at her. She scanned the curious faces for ones that she recognised, there was Jimmy and Marco standing a few metres away from each other, Jimmy with a basketball in his hand, Spinner wasn't far away.

The coach's whistle blew, forcing Grace to jump with fright at the loud, shrillness of the whistle. Obediently the class returned to their game of basketball, Marco, Jimmy and Spinner sneaking glances over at their coach as he questioned the undersized 16 year old girl standing in front of him.

Seeing Coach Armstrong approach her Grace instinctively pulled back a little, trying her best not to cringe away from this man who was only doing his job.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" He asked her as she looked up at him out of eyes filled with fear.

Grace merely nodded, not knowing what else to do; this had simply been the first place that she'd thought to come. She'd thought that she'd had no more tears left to cry but she was proved wrong when her eyes filled up and overflowed, starting a new wave of crying.

Coach Armstrong awkwardly reached down a hand to pat her in comfort but she cringed away again as though she thought the hand was going to hit her if she let it any closer. He frowned and was about to ask another question when Marco approached the brown haired girl and gently took her by the shoulders, soothing her as best he could.

Looking at Marco, Coach Armstrong frowned for a minute and then asked, "Do you know this girl?"

Marco nodded, continuing to rub one of his hands comfortingly up and down her thin arm, not daring to stop the flow of calm, quiet words that he was speaking into the ear of his distressed friend.

"Well could you please find out what's the matter?" He asked, a little impatiently.

Grace cringed at the tone in his voice, pulling closer to Marco, the only familiar and comforting thing around her.

"Ssssshhhhh," Marco soothed her as he looked up at the coach, trying to communicate that he was trying without stopping comforting Grace, "What's wrong? Huh? Do you want to tell me?"

His hand began to move from her arm to her back so that he would be surrounding her in what he hoped was a protective circle to her, to his surprise Grace pulled back away from him looking terrified. He frowned at her behaviour but continued to talk quietly, finally deciding on a good idea.

"Coach, she has a twin," Marco informed Coach Armstrong who had turned his attention back to the practice game taking place on the court, "Maybe she'd be more comfortable talking to her."

"Do you know what class she's in?" The coach asked turning back to look at Marco while he spoke to him.

"No, but I think that Jimmy does," Marco replied evenly, even if he had known what class Anna was in, he would still have stayed with Grace to comfort her.

"Right" The coach replied, "Jimmy, over here please."

Jimmy passed the ball to another player and jogged over to where the coach stood, "I've just been informed that you know what class this girl's twin is in. Is that right?"

"Yes sir," replied Jimmy, looking the coach in the eyes, "I know what class Anna's in."

"Then would you please run along and ask to borrow Anna for a bit, say that your teacher has said sorry for the disturbance but she is needed for matters concerning her twin, do you understand?" The coach asked.

"Yes sir," Jimmy repeated before running out of the gym.

-

Anna was sitting next to the back window of her class when she noticed Jimmy, one of her friends, come and knock on the door. He looked worried and glanced nervously over at her before addressing Mr Simpson.

"Excuse me Mr Simpson, sorry for interrupting but Coach Armstrong was wondering if he could borrow Anna for a bit," Jimmy said from the doorway, "It's to do with her twin sir."

At the mention of her twin Anna sat up in her seat and looked over the heads of the students in front of her at Mr Simpson, a pleading look shooting in his direction. She barely waited for him to nod before she picked up her books, stuffed them into her bag and ran for the gym, half a step behind Jimmy.

When she entered the gym, the first thing that Anna saw was Marco standing nearby, gently rubbing Grace's arm as calmly as he could. She rushed over, dumping her bag and instinctively running to comfort her twin.

"Gracie," She called out to her twin as she half ran to take over from Marco, she fell into her native tongue, Arabic, "What happened? Why didn't you call us this week? Damn I was worried about you."

Grace shook her head as Marco released her and allowed Anna to take over as head comforter, he returned to his basketball game, glancing over as often as he could.

"Sir?" Anna asked the coach standing nearby, "Could I please take my sister over to the stage? Away from most of the noise?"

"Just as long as you stay where I can see you," he agreed.

"Thank you," Anna said as she led her twin away, questioning her in a calm voice that seemed to comfort her no matter what Anna was saying.

Once they were seated on the steps leading up to the stage Anna began to question her twin and fuss over the thin brown haired girl. Eventually she asked what had happened and pointed out that she couldn't help if she didn't know what it was that her help was needed for.

At this point Grace stood and said hotly, "I was raped okay? Are you happy now, I was walking to the train station and then a group of boys came out of nowhere and took me off to some run down old house and then raped me," All of this was said in Arabic so even though the students having their sports class were aware of the yelling teen, they didn't understand what she said. "By Isis it hurts," She finished as she sat down and leaned her head and her right shoulder against the wall.

At first all that Anna could do was blink, then she found her voice, "When? Who was it? I swear by any God or Goddess who has something to do with this that I'll kill them for what they've done."

Grace shook her head, pressing her eyes shut in an attempt to stop herself from crying again, "Anna you couldn't do anything, it's too late now. They've already done the damage."

Anna went to pull her sister into a hug but the moment her hands touched Grace's back the little girl pulled away as fast as she could, a strangled yelp coming forth. Frowning at her twin, Anna moved around behind her twin and lifted up the back of her shirt a bit. The sight that met her was sickening, her twin's back was a mass of gashes and bruises, varying in size.

"Grace who did this to you and why?" Anna murmured, still speaking Arabic.

Grace put her head down, "They did, I didn't always do what they wanted straight away so they added up all the times that I didn't and then when they'd finished with me they beat me for every time I was disobedient."

"Well I'm not just going to sit by and watch you go through all this without help Gracie, I can't do that, we're going to talk to someone about this, Mr Radditch if we have to," Anna said, pulling Grace gently to her feet.

The fear showed in Grace's eyes at the thought of telling someone in detail about what had happened. She knew deep down that it was the right thing to do and that it could help her to put her rapists behind bars, even if it was only in a juvenile detention centre but telling someone about it? That would mean that she'd have to relive every moment of that hell house by telling people over and over, first Mr Radditch, then he would want her to tell the Police and then she might even have to repeat it to a councillor, she didn't want this.

"Grace," Anna began, "I have no idea how scared and hurt you are right now but it won't help you in any way to keep this to yourself. You keep this to yourself and they can easily come after you again or they could move on and give someone else this amount of pain. Please just come with me, you don't have to talk to Radditch, I'll do all of the talking if you want me to but we have to tell someone."

The small brown haired girl looked down at the floor and nodded, she would let Radditch know, but if anything more had come from her rape then she couldn't hide that forever. Others would find out, people talked and then no one would want to be near her, 16 years old and if she was pregnant then she would be thought strange and an outcast. That wasn't what she needed.

Somehow Anna managed to get permission from Coach Armstrong to take Grace up to Mr Radditch's office without telling him too many details of what had happened to Grace. Marco, Jimmy and Spinner paused in their game as Anna carefully led Grace away from the gym, all three of them wanted to follow the twins and find out what was wrong but they figured that someone would tell them soon.

Somehow Grace managed to keep a calm composure while Anna explained to Mr Radditch why Grace had been absent from school for the past week and why she was now in such bad condition. After Anna had explained all that she knew Mr Radditch turned to Grace and began to question her.

Eventually he was done but not before she started to cry again, she was angry at the boys who'd done this to her and it hurt that they'd done it. Just because Mr Radditch had been done speaking to them didn't mean that this was it for Grace, Mr Radditch called the Police as Grace had thought he would and explained as much as he could over the phone.

It took the police 20 minutes to send someone around to the school to take Grace into the station so that they could question her about the events of the past few days. Anna was allowed to come with her and provide comfort for the small girl as the police questioned her over and over and then began the standard procedure for rape victims.

By the time the police finished taking the DNA samples from where the boys had left them on her body it was 5:00 and Grace was feeling thoroughly depressed, all that she wanted to do was to crawl into some hole and disappear. She wished that none of this had ever happened and that life would just return to normal, but she knew that it wouldn't, not now; it hurt so much that she just couldn't see where the pain would end.

Saxon, Grace's older brother had been filled in on what had happened by Anna when she'd asked him to come down to the police station. He'd excused himself from work for the night and driven as fast as he could down to the police station. When the police had finished their questioning and assured Grace that they were doing all that they could to catch the ones who'd raped her.

The ride back to Saxon's apartment was silent, Saxon drove while Anna sat in the back of his four-wheel-drive with Grace leaning against her. A doctor had been called down to the police station and she'd cleaned and bandaged Grace's back so now that pain was a little more bearable although it still hurt. This had been the same doctor to take the DNA samples and to carry out any other procedures necessary for the situation.

Anna helped her up into the elevator up to where Saxon's apartment was while Saxon handled the buttons of the lift and let them into his living room. Calmly leading Grace to the bedroom that they shared Anna helped her change into her pyjamas and then helped her into bed, pulling the covers up and turning to go.

"Anna," Grace mumbled from her bed, she was dead tired and talking was an effort but she didn't care anymore, "Don't go, please don't leave me alone."

Anna looked sadly at her twin but nodded and pulled a chair over to where she could sit beside Grace's bed, a reassuring presence. Grace reached out a hand from under her sheets and held it open waiting for Anna to take it, she did and slowly Grace began to relax, finally falling asleep.

When Anna was sure that by leaving the room she wouldn't wake Grace she gently let go of her twin's hand and padded out of the room. Saxon was sitting on the couch looking out of the window in the living room. Anna sat down beside him and put her hand on his knee.

"It's my fault," He said, "I know it is, I shouldn't ever have let her walk to the train station after dark."

"Saxon it's not your fault," Anna said calmly but with reproach in her voice, "It's not my fault, not Grace's, it's not anyone's except for the guys who chose to rape her. We didn't even know what was going on, we couldn't have helped her because we didn't know where she was, didn't know that she wasn't safe and if we had, no amount of searching would have found her."

"I guess," Saxon said and Anna could see that he still doubted this.

"Look, Saxon," She began, "Grace is going to have a pretty rough time, we shouldn't be wasting our time trying to blame people when she's going to need our help."

Saxon looked at his sister and smiled weakly, "You're getting to be more like Mum every day, so is Grace." He stopped and sighed before continuing, "Yes you're right, but how do we help her?"

"We stand by her and be ready if she needs us," Anna said calmly, "This is only the beginning for her."


	2. The Best of Friends

Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi or I wouldn't be using fan fiction now would I? Have fun reading it! Please R&R!

Chapter 2: The Best of Friends

An hour later and Saxon and Anna were still sitting on the couch, lost in their thoughts when the doorbell rang. Anna jumped up and went to answer it, looking at the clock next to the door, 8:30, it was getting late for visitors.

She moved a step closer to the door and went on her tippee toes to look through the peep hole. Marco and Jimmy stood outside waiting for her to let them in; Anna quickly undid the dead-bolt on the door and opened it.

"Hey Anna," Marco said as the door opened in front of him, revealing the younger of the twins, "We saw that police car driving away from the school with you and Grace in it and we got worried. We tried to call you but no one was home."

Anna smiled but it was only a half hearted smile and her two friends picked up on that, "Can we come in?" Jimmy asked.

"Sure," Anna said quietly, "Grace is asleep but feel free to hang here, do your parents know you're here?"

"Yeah," Marco answered, "We called them and told them that we were visiting you after band practice."

Anna nodded as she led them back to where the seats were in Saxon's living room, Saxon was still sitting on the couch looking out of the window.

"Saxon," Anna said in a voice loud enough to bring him back from his thoughts, "This is Marco and Jimmy," She pointed to each of her friends as she introduced them, "Guys this is Saxon, my big brother."

Saxon stood shaking hands with both boys, it wasn't the formal hand shake of an adult, instead he took one of their hands in his and hugged them with his other arm. Jimmy didn't mind this at all, he returned the gesture as if Saxon was one of his best friends, Marco didn't seem to mind but Saxon felt him tense slightly as he pulled the boy in and hugged him.

"So you're Marco and Jimmy," He said in a conversational tone as he released Marco, "Anna and Grace have told me heaps about you but I never knew who they were talking about. I haven't been here every time that you've come over."

Jimmy grinned, "I hope they didn't say anything bad."

"Only a little," Saxon replied grinning like a teen himself.

Anna smiled but her smile faded quickly, "Anyone want Milo?" She asked, hoping to take her mind off what was happening.

"Sure," Said Jimmy.

Looking at Anna Saxon nodded and ruffled her hair a little.

Anna turned to face Marco, "You?"

"I'll help you," He replied smiling a little, he could tell that something big was up but he wasn't going to pressure Anna into telling him about it.

Anna bustled around the kitchen in silence for a bit, getting the Milo tin out of the cupboard and busying herself with making everyone's drinks. Marco got the mugs out of their cupboard and filled the hot water pot.

While it was boiling, Anna found that she had nothing to do until it was finished heating the water, she stopped and leaned against the bench unable to keep her emotions under control anymore. She rubbed at her eyes furiously, not wanting to cry in front of Marco, she didn't want to cry full stop but the tears wouldn't be stopped.

Marco soon noticed Anna's tears and moved to comfort her, she didn't pull away as he put his arms around her, instead she leaned against him, just as her twin had done in the gym.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Marco asked as Anna's tears began to subside and she pulled back.

Anna thought about this, Grace had said that if she felt the need to then she could tell their friends as long as they swore not to tell anyone, well right now she did need to tell someone, she nodded.

"Then let's finish these drinks and get them to Saxon and Jimmy and then we'll go out on the balcony and you can tell me," Marco said evenly.

Anna nodded and finished making the Milo's, taking them out to her brother and Jimmy before she joined Marco on Saxon's balcony, accepting her mug of hot Milo as she stepped out into the cool night air.

"Now," Marco said, "What's the trouble?"

Anna didn't answer for a moment, "Marco, swear that you won't tell anyone about this," she said, turning to face him.

Marco nodded, "I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to."

Anna nodded her thanks, took a deep breath and began speaking, "Marco, this isn't an easy thing to say, not for me and especially not for Grace but, shit Marco, I can't find any other way to tell you." Tears began to roll down Anna's cheeks again, "Marco, Grace was raped."

Marco was silent, then, "Shit, when?"

"The guys kidnapped her last Friday, so a week ago was when it started, they raped her every night, sometimes during the day as well and when she didn't do what they told her to then they beat her. That's why she wouldn't let you touch her back."

"Why would anyone do that to Grace?" Marco wondered aloud, "She never did anything that would have asked for that."

"The police said that they were just picking random people and targeting them," Anna replied, "I don't see why they couldn't have picked someone else."

In truth she really could, Grace was young and strong and beautiful, she also had a feisty nature, the police had explained that most rapists wanted someone who would object and fight them. Grace had fought them, she'd lost and they'd raped her over and over.

"It was only one guy wasn't it?" Marco asked after a long silence.

Anna shook her head, "Grace had to tell the police everything, there were at least twelve of them Marco, twelve guys against Grace."

Marco swore again and then asked hesitantly, "Did they use protection?"

Anna looked over at him, fear filling her eyes suddenly as if he'd just shed light on something, "Grace said that their head man wouldn't let any of the guys near her without it but that he…that he never bothered with it himself. Oh shit."

She ran inside, leaving her empty mug and Marco outside, she returned a few minutes later with her twin's diary, "Crap," she said quietly, sinking into one of the chairs on the balcony.

"What?" Marco asked, slightly fearful of the answer.

"Marco," Anna began, "You know how in the week before that time of month you can… can get impregnated?"

Marco nodded, fearing the next sentence even more.

"Last week was that week before for Grace," Anna said in a voice that shook.

"Shit," Marco said again, "So you mean that they could have… you know?"

Anna nodded, not looking at him and then she got up and stood beside him, "What am I going to say to Saxon? He'll flip if he finds out that Grace might be pregnant. If she is then she definitely won't have it aborted, it's against every moral that she's ever had. This is such a mess."

"I'll help you," Marco said quietly, laying a hand on Anna's shoulder, "You two have already done so much, knowing that I'm gay and accepting that, not telling anyone about that either."

Anna could only nod, she turned back to the apartment, "Well, let's get this over with, Jimmy already knows what's up, I heard Saxon telling him." She took a deep breath and stepped into the living room, closely followed by Marco, "Saxon, Marco just brought something to my attention," She said in a level voice, "Grace could be pregnant, it's close enough to… that time of month and Grace told the police officer who was questioning her that the leader hadn't used any…any protection."

Saxon sat for a moment in silence and then began to curse in Egyptian, he stood up and began pacing back and forth, still cursing, then he turned to Anna and began yelling things at her.

Marco and Jimmy couldn't understand a word that Saxon was saying but they knew from Anna's reaction that it was insulting and hurtful. Anna surprised them by straightening and pulling herself up to her full height, she wasn't much shorter than Saxon but he stopped his yelling.

"Saxon, it is not my fault that this happened, I didn't do anything to cause it and neither did you, like I said keep a positive attitude and make life easy on Gracie," Anna said calmly, "That's all that we can do."

Saxon shook his head angrily for a while but then lifted his head and looked at his sister, "I'm sorry, but…it's just that…"

Anna shushed him, "I know, Grace is too young and this shouldn't be happening to her, but it is and we can't stop it so we just have to help her. There have been people younger than Gracie in this situation, they've gotten through it, she can too."

"What can I do?" Asked a sleepy voice from the doorway, Grace stood there in her patterned boxers and singlet, bandages showing over the top of it, "Shit," she said when she saw Marco and Jimmy there, "You told them?"

Anna nodded and went over to give her twin a hug, "Do you want something to eat or drink?"

"No," Grace said shaking her head a little, "I'm not hungry. What can I do to?"

Anna looked around at Saxon biting her lip in worry, "You tell her."

Saxon sighed and approaching Grace, took her by the hand and led her over to the couch where he'd been sitting just a few minutes ago, Jimmy moved over to let both of them sit down.

"Grace, you know what they… what they did to you this past week?" Saxon asked hesitantly, he waited for Grace to slowly nod before continuing, "I don't know if you realised but that was the time just before your period, I'm not saying that anything will come of it but… well you could be pregnant."

This last bit came out in a rush and Grace simply blinked for a moment and then frowned, beginning to think things over, eventually a long string of curses found their way out of her mouth and then Saxon was hugging her again.

When she managed to pull free of her brother's fierce embrace, Grace stood and stretched as much as she could before pain shot through her tired body, "I'm tired, I'm going to go back to bed and I'll think things over in the morning," She stated. "Goodnight Anna, night Saxon, Jimmy, Marco, thanks for coming, you really didn't have to."

"That's okay," Marco said, hugging her carefully so as not to hurt her, before she had been like a delicate flower to him and he'd always worried about crushing her petals but now more than ever he wanted to be careful with her.

Jimmy gave her the same treatment, hugging her slightly more awkwardly than Marco had. She hugged both of them back and then disappeared into her room.

Saxon looked at the VCR clock and frowned, 9:50, "It's getting late, you two had better be going home, your parents will be getting worried. Do yu want me to give you a lift?"

Marco also looked at the clock and then at Jimmy, they'd be coming over again tomorrow, he knew it and he could tell that Anna half expected them to, he nodded and Jimmy followed suit. Seeing as Saxon's apartment was so close to Craig's Jimmy hadn't driven, he hadn't bothered to drive to Craig's either so his car was still at his house.

"Alright then," Saxon said giving Anna a one armed hug, "I'll be back as soon as I've dropped Marco and Jimmy off, and I want to get something from the drug store on the way back."

Anna knew what that meant and she hugged him back quite fiercely before she went over and hugged Marco and Jimmy each in turn.

"Thanks for coming over guys," She said quietly, "You are so the best friends a girl could have."

Both of them smiled and left, following Saxon down to the underground car park where Saxon had left his Land Rover. He pulled out of the garage and drove off towards Jimmy's house, that being the closest house, he stopped at the curb and let Jimmy out watching until Jimmy was safely inside his house before he drove on. Marco looked out of the window of the car for a while and then decided to say something.

"Did it scare you to know what happened to her?" He asked quietly.

Saxon took his eyes off the road for a moment and looked at the small Italian boy in the seat beside him, "Yeah, it scared the shit outta me," He replied as he returned his eyes to the road ahead of him, "At first I thought that Anna was just playing some stupid prank because she was bored but then I heard how scared her voice was. You try having a little sibling calling you up while your trying to train horses and telling you that her twin's been raped, first there's shock and then you're just shitting yourself with worry."

Marco nodded, "When she came to school like that I wondered what was wrong but I never would have guessed that somebody raped her, things like that just don't happen to good people like her, at least they shouldn't"

Saxon nodded but his eyes were sad, "She's had enough trouble already, first our house in Egypt burns down and kills our parents our James, then she gets shipped over here and taken away from everyone and everything she ever knew, now this. It shouldn't happen to her, I agree."

Marco looked over at Saxon; suddenly Grace's big brother seemed much older and more worn down, "She never told me about any of that. I mean, I knew that her parents were dead but I never knew how they died or that she had a brother other than you."

Saxon nodded, "She didn't even know that I existed until just before she came to Degrassi at the start of grade 8. She's been trying to make up for lost time ever since, come to think of it, so have I, I really missed her."

"How old were you?" Marco asked carefully, not wanting to pry into this guy's life, he was nice and Marco knew that if he was anything like his younger sister's then he couldn't be a bad guy.

There was silence for a moment and Marco hoped he hadn't gone too far but then Saxon spoke up, "They were six, I was eleven and James was thirteen. He and I used to share a bedroom so the fire woke us both up, James was worried about Anna and Grace so we went to their rooms first, they only got a bit burned on the way out but James had one of the ceiling beams block his and Grace's path. We got outside and James ran right back in to get Mum and Dad, he never came out alive, the firemen found three bodies inside and brought them out but they didn't look anything like James or Mum or Dad. After that we got shipped over here and then we got split up, Grace went to our Step-Mum and Anna went to some person who adopted her and then I went somewhere else. No one ever told them about what happened and I think that they blocked out any memories of Egypt until High School when they got told by Anna's foster Mum and then they looked me up in the phone book and moved in with me. That's my sad story."

Marco laughed quietly at the way Saxon had said this but stopped laughing, "Have Anna and Grace told you that I'm gay?"

"No," Saxon said calmly, continuing to drive towards Marco's house.

"It doesn't bother you?" Marco asked him.

"No, not really," Saxon replied, "One of the best jockey's at the stable where I train horses is gay, he's still a really nice person and he's taught Grace a lot already about being a jockey. I have no problem with people being gay."

Marco looked at Saxon again and realised that he really was just like his sisters, he took everything as it came and kept going as best he could. He found himself wishing that he was more like Saxon, then maybe he wouldn't hide who he really was.

His thoughts were interrupted by Saxon speaking, "This is your stop Marco, and thanks for coming around. Anna needed to talk about this to someone who wasn't me, you can come by any time."

Marco smiled his shy smile, "It was nothing, I was worried about Grace that's all, I was happy to help."

With that he shut the car door and walked up to his front door, opening it to let himself in Marco turned back to the road and waved at Saxon before he shut the door behind him.

Saxon smiled as he drove away from Marco's house, he knew that he may have just shown the teenager an important thing: that not all people were homophobic and quite a few people actually accepted the gay community.

Thinking to himself as he entered the drug store, Grace and Anna had a lot of people who cared about them, it was a good thing. They wouldn't lack in support when they needed it but the question was, would all of their friends stick by them when they found out what had happened to Grace?

As he thought, Saxon bought what he needed and headed home to his sisters.


	3. Results

Disclaimer: If I did own Degrassi then I wouldn't be using this site, you know how it goes. R&R please! Thanks to those who've reviewed, all 3 of you! Enjoy people!

Chapter 3: Results

When Grace woke in the morning she was in her own bed with her sheets pulled up around her. She began to move but stopped when she realised that the wounds on her back had stiffened. In the week that had just passed her injuries hadn't had time to stiffen up before they'd been reopened and knew ones created, now that she'd had time to lie still and begin the process of physically healing she was becoming stiff.

So instead of moving her whole body, she moved her head to look at where her bed was sinking to allow the weight of her brother, she smiled when she saw him, glad that he was here with her. He smiled back and helped her to sit up as best he could, leaning her against a second pillow so that she could see him without straining her neck.

"Feeling any better than yesterday?" He asked as he took the closest of her hands in both of his own.

"Much better," She said in a quiet voice, "I think."

Saxon's smile faded and he moved one of his hands from hers to her hair, which he brushed gently away from her face so that he could see her properly, "Let's change your bandages," He suggested, "Don't want those injuries getting infected."

Slowly Grace rolled over and allowed Saxon to remove the bandages on her back, disinfecting every gash on there and then to put clean bandages on. She tried not to wince, flinch or cry out when he put the disinfectant on but she couldn't help it.

When he was done Grace turned over again and looked at her brother, "Now I'm sure that you didn't come in here just to say good morning and change my bandages. What did you want to say? By the way, what time is it?"

Saxon allowed his smile to return for a moment as he informed his sister that she had slept until 10:30 and it was now almost 11:00. Then his smile faded and he stood up, moving into the sunlight that filtered in through the window.

"Grace maybe I should've let Anna do this but," He hit his fist absently against one thigh, "Since Anna pointed out that you could be…" He faltered, "Well I went down to the drug store and got this," he stopped and held up a small box that read "_Early Pregnancy Tester_."

Looking down at her hands Grace nodded, slowly she got up and took it from him and signalled that he should leave the room. Fresh tears had filled her eyes and Saxon wanted to stay with her but he knew that he couldn't so he went.

Grace watched as her brother left the room, she turned the box over in her hands and then walked into the large ensuite bathroom that opened into the bedroom that she shared with her twin, closing the door behind her.

-

That day was mostly spent in Saxon's apartment for Grace's part, she sat on the couch in the living room watching TV and moving as little as possible. Marco and Jimmy visited her again at around two in the afternoon.

She smiled at them when she opened the door, they could see that her back was hurting her but if she was hiding it from them then she wouldn't be happy for them to act as if she needed help with everything. She had a very proud nature and knowing this, both boys were reluctant to do anything unless they saw that it was causing her too much pain.

After Grace had explained to them why she was home on her own they settled down on the couch beside her and began watching the things that were on TV. Eventually Grace bored of watching though and stood, growing restless about being kept in the apartment all day.

Jimmy couldn't stay long but before he left he made sure that she knew his number if she needed him. He told her that he'd let himself out and before he did, Jimmy ruffled her hair a little knowing that the extra annoyance would keep her occupied for a while.

Soon after Jimmy left Grace turned off the TV, Marco wasn't watching it and neither was she so there was no point in keeping it on. She pulled her knee up to her chest and tried not to think about the pregnancy tester that was currently sitting next to the basin in her bathroom. It didn't work, nothing that she could think of ever took her mind off it for long.

Finally she spoke up, "So, Marco," She was uncomfortable about asking this of him but she couldn't wait any longer, "Saxon went to the drug store last night got a…a pregnancy tester. I used it this morning but I haven't checked it yet, I've been too scared. I was wondering if…"

Noticing that Grace's voice had trailed off Marco looked at her, her young face anxious, "Wondering if I would check it with you?" He asked gently.

Grace bit her lip and nodded, then she looked up at him and met his eyes, "Thank you, you've done more for me than I'll ever be able to do for you."

"Don't be silly," Marco said, gently pushing her shoulder, "I'm doing what any good friend would do, now are we going to check it?"

Once again Grace nodded and then began to stand up, slowly, ever so slowly so as not to hurt any of the gashes on her back. Marco stood as quickly as he could and took her hand, allowing her to lean on it if she wanted. She hesitated, looking at their hands with a nervousness that Marco had never seen before in her.

Slowly they made their way to Grace and Anna's bathroom where Marco saw a small object sitting next to the basin. He let go of Grace's hand, sensing that this next bit Grace would have to do herself, without him looking over her shoulder.

Grace picked up the tester and looked at it as though it might bite her at any moment, she bit her lip and the look of worry on her face deepened, "It says…it says that…Marco it says positive; that means that…"

Marco looked at her with what he hoped was a sympathetic expression before he opened his arms, inviting her to be comforted. She accepted the offer and once again, Marco found a distressed Grace in his arms, he cooed quietly reassuring her that somehow everything would be all right.

When she finally pulled out of Marco's arms, Grace dug the heels of her hands into her eyes to get rid of any remaining tears, "Well, I s'pose I'd better tell Anna and Saxon."

Marco felt slightly out of place, like it shouldn't be him standing there in front of this distressed teen but then she looked at him and the grateful look in her eyes showed, "Thank you Marco," she said quietly, "I'm glad that you're my friend."

Marco smiled and walked beck out to the living room with her to watch TV while they waited for someone in Grace's family to come home. Finally Saxon came home with Anna; each of them greeted Grace with a hug and thanked Marco for keeping her company. It didn't take them long to notice how unsettled Grace was and they soon started asking questions.

Grace let them ask their questions but finally shushed them, "That's not what the problem is, yes those things are problems but they're not the major one."

"So what is the major trouble Gracie," Anna asked her twin as she sat down next to her on the couch.

Grace looked across the room to where Marco was sitting in one of the arm chairs; he shrugged as if to say that she had to tell them sometime, why not now.

Grace took a deep breath and plunged into what she had to say, "Saxon, you know how you got me that pregnancy tester and I used it this morning? Well I checked it this afternoon just after Jimmy left and…" her voice faded away before she forced herself to say it, "And it tested positive."

Anna looked at her for a moment and then found her voice, "But those things aren't always accurate, I mean they can get it wrong, can't they?"

Saxon looked down at Anna sitting on the couch holding her twins hands and Grace sitting and looking worried about the whole situation, "They can be wrong Anna but they can also be right," He said in a quiet voice, "I could go and get another one to double check but, the results could come up the same."

Anna looked away from him and back to her twin, then she looked over at Marco, "She didn't just read it wrong? Did she?"

Marco shook his head, "Anna it's very hard to read that thing wrong."

"Anna," Grace said, bringing her twins attention back to her, "I'll take another one if it helps but I doubt that it'll come out any different."

Anna looked at her and nodded, "I'm sorry," she said in a barely audible voice, "You're the one who might be pregnant and you're taking this better than I am, I should be comforting you not the other way around."

A single tear tracked its way down Anna's face and Grace reached over, wiping it away and then pulled her twin into a hug, "I don't mind, it means that I'm not the only one who's scared about this."

For a few minutes the twins just sat on the couch hugging each other fiercely and the Grace looked at her watch, and then at Saxon, "Harry's supposed to be coming over tonight isn't he?" she asked her older brother.

Saxon looked at the calendar, "Holy shit you're right, what do you want for dinner?"

"I don't know," Grace said, "There's not that much food in the fridge."

Saxon thought for a minute and then said, "Stuff it, we'll order pizza. Marco did you want to stay for dinner or is your Mum gonna cook."

Marco grinned at the offer of staying for pizza and looked at the twins who were now grinning up at him despite themselves.

"I've never known Marco to pass up pizza," Anna said, "Why don't you go and call your parents."

Marco nodded and went to make the call. Saxon smiled briefly at his younger sisters and ruffled their hair before he disappeared to his room where they suspected he was finding his wallet and changing out of his work clothes.

Just as Marco was putting the phone down the door bell rang and Anna leapt to answer it knowing already who it would be on the other side of the door. She threw the door open and then quite literally threw herself at the person on the other side.

Marco raised an eyebrow in question at the male laughter coming from the hallway outside, Grace just smiled and got up to rescue her half-brother from her twin. Anna had already told Harry about what had happened to Grace so when he saw her he hugged her and looked her over carefully, checking for any unnoticed injuries.

She gave him a look of reproach before she yelled to Saxon that Harry had arrived and then introduced him to Marco.

"And I thought you were the only hobbit," Harry commented to Grace after saying hi to Marco.

"Oh that's thin ice you're stepping on there," Grace said before she and Anna gave each other a look and tackled him, Grace more carefully than Anna.

Marco looked at the three teenagers on the couch, "Is this a regular thing?"

Grace pulled herself away from her sister and half brother looking at her watch, "Well he's been tackled twice in the three minutes that he's been here, Anna we're getting soft, quick tackle him again."

Anna grinned at her twin, happy that Grace had something to take her mind off the events of the past week. Just at that moment the phone rang, and Saxon who had just re-entered the room in his boardies and billabong shirt picked it up and leaned against the door frame listening. Everyone else listened to Saxon's end of the conversation, their full attention on Saxon and the phone.

Harry and Anna watched intently over the back of the couch, Grace watched over Anna's head and Marco looked on from where he stood slightly off to one side.

Eventually Saxon put the phone down and looked over at Grace, "That was the police," he said quietly, "They got the group of boys who did… you know and they're going to be put on trial, it turns out that this isn't the first time that they've done this to someone."

Grace looked down at the ground, tears welling up in her eyes again. Thinking to herself she couldn't remember when she'd ever cried so much as she had this past week, and things probably weren't going to get any easier. Then she remembered how she'd once fallen over when she was little, her Dad had picked her up, set her on her feet, dried her tears and then told her to "Buck up," and that the cut on her knee would get better.

Drying her own tears now she silently told herself the same thing that he had that day and then she spoke, "Well that's a good thing, now how about we get that pizza, I'm starving."

Saxon looked at her and nodded, smiling at how she had handled herself, he was proud of her, "Who's coming with me?"

"Can I?" Grace asked quietly, "I haven't been out since I got home yesterday."

Saxon nodded, "Why not, anyone else gonna come?"

"I will," Harry said, standing up and moving to put his arms around Grace in a quick hug, she'd composed herself very well considering all that had happened to her in the week just gone.

"Right," Saxon said, hitching his pants up and grabbing his car keys from the kitchen bench, "Off we go."

"Harry, hold still a minute," Grace said moving to stand behind him, she jumped lithely onto his back, despite her injuries, or maybe the day had helped unstiffen them a little, "All right, off you go."

Harry rolled his eyes and moved off with Grace on his back, clinging like a little monkey. Anna laughed as Grace waved good bye from Harry's back.

"Well," She said calmly, "I think that was some good results we just got about those guys, maybe things will be a bit easier from now, at least Grace can leave here without worrying about that."


	4. Stay True to Yourself

Disclaimer: Hi to all my readers out there, 4th chapter, you should know by now that I don't own Degrassi, I just own Harry, Saxon, Anna and Grace. To all who are awaiting the input of more actual Degrassi characters be patient, I will be entering more in the coming chapters. So enjoy this chapter, please R&R, let me know what you think of it and I'll try to fix any problems you find!

Chapter 4: Stay True to Yourself

Looking around she noticed Harry's bag and picking it up signalled for Marco to come with her to put it in his room, "You know," Anna started as she turned off the light in Harry's room and shut the door, "If you stay long enough you might get a nice view of Harry in only his boxers."

"Anna," Marco said, lightly shoving her.

She laughed, feeling that things were starting to look up at the thought of Grace's… well they were going to jail so she wouldn't have to worry about them.

"I'm serious," She told Marco, "If you stayed the night you'd see Harry in nothing but boxers, and then you'd get to see morning Harry being tackled for a grand entrance, it's kind of a ritual. Harry wakes up and comes out for breakfast, still half asleep, as a lesson not to be anywhere near sleep around me and Grace he gets tackled. So far he hasn't learnt a thing."

Marco laughed quietly at the thought of Anna and Grace tackling their burly half brother, the rough and tough boy apparently had weaknesses that his half sisters had found and were now apparently using to their advantages.

"So your family really likes boxers don't they?" Marco asked cheekily.

"It's our major sleep wear in summer," Anna replied as she began to set the table for dinner, "Grace and I wear our boxers and singlets, Harry sticks around in just his boxers and Saxon usually puts a singlet on with his boxers. Then occasionally one of us will decide to be stupid and shove a clean pair of boxers on our heads and use it for a hat."

Marco smiled and shook his head at the thought of any of Grace and Anna's family running around with boxers on their heads. When they had finished setting the table Anna and Marco settled down on the couch to watch yet more TV while they waited for Saxon, Harry and Grace to come back with the pizza.

When they returned, all three had their arms around each other and had to turn sideways to fit through the door. Anna shook her head at their antics as she whisked away the pizza's and put them in the centre of the table.

"I declare this meal to have started, now dig in before I eat it all," She said as she pulled two pieces back to her plate.

When dinner was over Saxon sent Anna, Grace and Marco off to get ready for bed, Anna and Grace both began scouting out sheets and clothes for Marco to sleep in while Harry pulled the spare mattress into their room.

Then Marco called his parents and got the all clear to stay the night at the twin's apartment while Anna changed Grace's bandages again.

After the lights went out in Anna and Grace's room the 3 teens talked for a while before the twin's began to get tired.

"Good night Anna," Grace said as she made sure her position wasn't going to affect her injuries.

"Good night Gracie," Anna replied from the other side of the room.

The in unison the twins said, "Good night Marco."

Marco laughed quietly at this then replied, "Good night you two," before he rolled over and went to sleep himself.

-

Marco woke the next morning to the early rays of sunlight streaming through the twins window, he groaned and tried to block them out but soon gave up as his attempts weren't working. He looked up at the twins just as the light began to touch their beds, two arms reached out from the blankets on each of their beds and pulled their second pillows down on top of their heads, blocking out the sun.

"Um…okay," Marco said, fascinated by what had just happened.

"What?" Was the muffled response from underneath Grace's pillow.

"You two just did the same thing at the exact same time, that's all, it's strange," Marco said.

The only reply that Marco received this time was an extremely muffled grunt from Grace.

"Don't you two get up right about now?" Marco asked.

"Wait for the alarm," Anna said through her pillow, two seconds later and a loud beeping erupted from the clock on her bedside table, "That would be the wake up call."

With that the twins pushed their pillows off their heads and began to get up. Grace took her time in getting up; not particularly wanting to find out just how much pain her back was still capable of giving her.

"Best time for Harry tackling," she said, looking out of her window at the surrounding apartment buildings.

"Not until we change your bandages," Anna said as she rubbed sleep from her eyes.

Grace groaned but didn't stop Anna from changing the bandages; her twin looked over the gashes as she removed the old bandaging and replaced it with clean bandages.

She had to admit that Grace's back did look like it was getting better, very slowly better but all the same it was an improvement. At least she was starting to get a little flexibility back as she had demonstrated yesterday when she'd gotten a piggy back out of Harry.

All three teens left the room fully dressed and hungry, entering the living room they found Saxon sitting on the couch in front of the television. He turned to look at them as they came in greeting them with a quick "Good morning," before turning back to stare at the screen.

Grace and Anna looked at each other, frowning; this wasn't normal morning behaviour for Saxon. They looked back at their brother and then they noticed what it was that he was watching.

It was the morning news and the report was of a girl living in Degrassi who'd recently been raped. Grace froze, looking at the screen; it was now playing a voice recording that the rapists had set up.

Anna looked away from the TV and fixed her eyes on her twin who was shaking her head and slowly backing away from the television. Suddenly she turned and ran off down the hall, slamming the bedroom door behind her.

"Grace," Anna called after her, turning to look at Saxon she scolded him, "Turn that stupid thing off, she was starting to get over this."

With that she strode off down the hall to her bedroom, even though it was hers as much as it was Grace's she still knocked on the door, "Gracie?" She opened the door, slid through and shut it again behind her, "Please don't cry."

Grace was lying on her bed, her face buried in her blankets and her arms over her head, her small body was racked with large sobs every few seconds. Anna moved over and sat on her twin's bed, crossing her legs and putting a gentle hand on a part of Grace's back that she knew didn't have any bandages on.

"Everything will be okay, you'll see," Anna cooed trying to calm her twin.

"No it won't," Grace said, not moving her head away from the blankets, her speech was muffled by her bed covers, "I'm going to have to go to school tomorrow and that report will be on the evening news too and all over the newspapers, people want to know these things and the newspapers can sell these stories. By tomorrow almost everyone will have heard about what happened and then they'll treat me like some street slut. They'll look at me as if I come from another planet."

"Well I won't do that," Anna said defiantly, "Marco's not doing that and neither did Jimmy when he found out, Grace there are plenty of people who'll sympathize."

"But I don't want their sympathy, I want this to not have happened, I can't face them all with a baby that belongs to some guy I don't even know," Grace said to her twin, face still buried in the bed.

"Grace…" Anna began but was cut off by her twin.

"Anna I just want life to be normal again, I want to be able to go through school without having to worry about all of this, but I can't," Grace looked at her twin out of haunted eyes, "I can't see how I can get through this."

"With help Gracie," Anna said quietly, "I'll help you all you need and so will Marco and Jimmy and I'm sure all of our other friends will too. Stay true to yourself."

"Just how am I supposed to do that?" Grace asked.

"Just don't change too much, we'll take care of you but please don't get all withdrawn again," Anna told her twin.

Grace sat up rubbing at her eyes to get rid of the tears, when she stopped Grace looked at her twin, "You don't have to stay with me if you don't want to you know. I'll understand if you want to go and find someone else to hang with."

Anna looked at Grace and smiled a sad smile, "Gracie you're my twin, why would I ever want to hang with those other losers? They could never have even half the attitude that you do."

This made Grace laugh, she'd made herself a reputation for being fickle minded and difficult, she knew this and sometimes deliberately acted that way when the mood struck, "I think they'll be seeing a lot more of the fickle side of me," she said turning serious again.

Anna gave that sad, sympathetic smile again and hugged her twin, "Then at least you can be fickle minded in style and for once I won't get annoyed at you for being difficult. Now come on, are we going to hide in our room for the rest of our lives or are we going to go out today? At least to the kitchen for breakfast cause personally I'm starving."

Grace chuckled and told her twin to go ahead; she'd be out as soon as she'd washed the tear tracks off her face.

-

When Harry woke up he made his way slowly out to the living room he managed to stop himself from running into every wall except for the one just outside his room. As he entered the living room he noted that something was different, he didn't know what it was straight away but thinking about it suddenly it dawned on him why his morning was missing something. He was half way through his breakfast by the time he realised what his morning lacked.

He hadn't been tackled at all that morning.

"Where are the twins?" he asked Saxon who had turned off the TV and was now looking out of the window with his morning cup of coffee in hand.

He looked around at his younger half brother a sad look on his face, "They came out earlier when I was watching the morning news and the report that was on at that moment was about Gracie, she got upset and went back to her room, Anna followed her and I haven't seen them since. That was almost an hour ago."

Harry looked around the room, "Where's Marco?" he asked.

"Right here," The Italian boy said turning to look over the back of the couch.

Just then two solid masses rammed straight into Harry's side, sending him flying off his chair and onto the ground where he greeted the floor, his morning slowly returning to normal. He rolled over so that he could get a proper look at his younger half sisters, he had to laugh at the innocent looks on their faces but soon he tired of lying on the floor and sat up.

In doing so Harry sent the twins rolling away from him, they were soon on their feet and heading towards the kitchen in answer to their stomachs.

"See Marco," Anna said as she emerged from the kitchen with a bowl of cereal, "What did I tell you? You stick around long enough and you get to see us tackle Harry again and again and again."

"You forgot the other million agains Anna," Grace joked as she too emerged with her breakfast, it was a considerable amount smaller than Anna's but then again, so was she.

Looking over the older, but smaller of the twins a sad look passed over Harry's face. She was too young to be going through this, the best he could do to help her was shield her from as much of her troubles as possible. Maybe then she could focus more on staying the Grace who everybody had known and loved. Staying true to herself.


End file.
